Acting education chief: N.J. may seek waiver from No Child Left Behind law

By LESLIE BRODY

STAFF WRITER |

The Record

New Jersey’s acting education commissioner said Monday he would consider seeking a federal waiver from the No Child Left Behind law.

Critics of the law — including many school superintendents in Bergen and Passaic counties — have complained that its rating system unfairly stigmatizes good schools. U. S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged all state education chiefs Monday to apply for waivers from the Bush-era law, which requires 100 percent of students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014. Many educators call that goal unrealistic.

Duncan said the law spurred many states to make annual tests easier so that more students would pass, and its stringent rules unfairly labeled many schools as failures even though they were making major strides.

“That is dishonest, demoralizing to teachers … and confusing to parents,” he said in a call with reporters Monday. He promised relief from NCLB penalties to states that provided evidence they were taking real steps to turn around troubled schools, raise academic standards, close achievement gaps and boost teacher effectiveness.

About 38 percent of the nation’s public schools fell short of NCLB targets last year, and Duncan has predicted that would rise to about 80 percent this year. In New Jersey, 1,136 schools — or 51 percent — failed to make NCLB benchmarks last year, including schools in Closter and Glen Rock.

And 657 New Jersey schools failed to make targets two years in a row. Failing to hit targets repeatedly — a problem for many schools in Paterson — triggers escalating sanctions, such as an obligation to help students transfer, replace some faculty, change leadership and restructure.

Acting Commissioner Christopher Cerf said in a release that “We applaud Secretary Duncan for his challenge to develop next generation accountability systems at the state level,” but he needed to see the details of the waiver application before deciding whether to seek one.

Some critics of Duncan’s announcement charged the waiver plan gutted accountability efforts and questioned his authority to override the law this way, but Duncan said the fine print empowered him to give short-term exemptions. Congress has stalled in its efforts to change the 2002 law.

He said he would release the details of applications in September and expected to grant waivers before next spring’s testing season.

For years, critics of NCLB complained it doesn’t distinguish clearly between chronically weak schools and successful ones that missed just one of a slew of indicators, such as scores by special needs students. Some also argued it pressured schools to focus on reading and math at the expense of subjects that don’t count for federal ratings. Supporters of the law countered it shined a light on gaps among different student groups and imposed sanctions to nudge schools to improve.

Duncan said tying penalties to an unfair labeling system hampered bold reform at a time when American students were slipping against peers abroad and only one in four graduated from high school. He said states that win waivers would still have to use annual tests in grades 3 through 8 but he wanted to focus on student growth rather than absolute scores.

“We do not want to overtest students,” he said, “but want to make sure we’re measuring progress.”

Acting education chief: N.J. may seek waiver from No Child Left Behind law

By LESLIE BRODY

STAFF WRITER |

The Record

New Jersey’s acting education commissioner said Monday he would consider seeking a federal waiver from the No Child Left Behind law.

Critics of the law — including many school superintendents in Bergen and Passaic counties — have complained that its rating system unfairly stigmatizes good schools. U. S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged all state education chiefs Monday to apply for waivers from the Bush-era law, which requires 100 percent of students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014. Many educators call that goal unrealistic.

Duncan said the law spurred many states to make annual tests easier so that more students would pass, and its stringent rules unfairly labeled many schools as failures even though they were making major strides.

“That is dishonest, demoralizing to teachers … and confusing to parents,” he said in a call with reporters Monday. He promised relief from NCLB penalties to states that provided evidence they were taking real steps to turn around troubled schools, raise academic standards, close achievement gaps and boost teacher effectiveness.

About 38 percent of the nation’s public schools fell short of NCLB targets last year, and Duncan has predicted that would rise to about 80 percent this year. In New Jersey, 1,136 schools — or 51 percent — failed to make NCLB benchmarks last year, including schools in Closter and Glen Rock.

And 657 New Jersey schools failed to make targets two years in a row. Failing to hit targets repeatedly — a problem for many schools in Paterson — triggers escalating sanctions, such as an obligation to help students transfer, replace some faculty, change leadership and restructure.

Acting Commissioner Christopher Cerf said in a release that “We applaud Secretary Duncan for his challenge to develop next generation accountability systems at the state level,” but he needed to see the details of the waiver application before deciding whether to seek one.

Some critics of Duncan’s announcement charged the waiver plan gutted accountability efforts and questioned his authority to override the law this way, but Duncan said the fine print empowered him to give short-term exemptions. Congress has stalled in its efforts to change the 2002 law.

He said he would release the details of applications in September and expected to grant waivers before next spring’s testing season.

For years, critics of NCLB complained it doesn’t distinguish clearly between chronically weak schools and successful ones that missed just one of a slew of indicators, such as scores by special needs students. Some also argued it pressured schools to focus on reading and math at the expense of subjects that don’t count for federal ratings. Supporters of the law countered it shined a light on gaps among different student groups and imposed sanctions to nudge schools to improve.

Duncan said tying penalties to an unfair labeling system hampered bold reform at a time when American students were slipping against peers abroad and only one in four graduated from high school. He said states that win waivers would still have to use annual tests in grades 3 through 8 but he wanted to focus on student growth rather than absolute scores.

“We do not want to overtest students,” he said, “but want to make sure we’re measuring progress.”